[ 2021-03-07 ]

64th Independence Day: Reviewing how far we have come as a nation

By Godwill Arthur Mensah

Accra, March 6, Ghana is a country located in the
western part of Africa and situated on the coast
of the Gulf of Guinea.

Although it is relatively small in area - 238,533
square kilometres - with an estimated population
of 30 million, it is one of the leading countries
in Africa, partly because of her considerable
natural resources, political stability and the
first country, south of the Sahara, to gain
independence from the British Colonial
Administration in 1957.

It adopted a unitary multiparty democracy after it
gained independence, however, decades of
corruption, mismanagement and military regimes,
stymied her growth and prospects.

This, therefore, calls for hard work by both
political leadership and ordinary citizens to make
meaningful headway in development and improvements
in the standards of life of the people.

We should not depend on foreign aid for economic
prosperity since our reliance on such support over
the years had not yielded much economic
transformation.

Today, March 6, 2021, being exactly 64 years after
the country attained independence, we must gird
our loins and rally behind the current government
to better the lots of the people.

Background

The Independence Day is a momentous occasion to
remind Ghanaians on the need to maintain and
sustain the country’s democratic dispensation,
which is widely touted as the beacon of Africa’s
democracy.

However, some political pundits continue to
downplay the relevance of celebrating the Day,
arguing that Ghana, and for that matter Africa,
continue to be 'apron string' of the western
powers, always kowtowing to the obnoxious demands
and pressure of the 'disguised colonial imperial
antics' of yesteryears.

The country has had a checkered history, with
civilian and military regimes providing various
shades of governance. Nonetheless, we cannot throw
our hands in the air in despair, but need to take
the bull by the horn to make life better than we
met.

Ghanaians often celebrate their Independence Day
with pomp and pageantry, including colourful
parades that bring nostalgic feeling to most
celebrants.

However, this year's celebration, marking the 64th
Anniversary, would just be celebrated at the
Forecourt of the Jubilee House, the seat of
government, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, to limit
the number of participants.

Flt Lt Jerry Rawlings’ Regime

Flight Lieutenant Jerry John Rawlings ruled for 10
years as Chairman of the Provisional National
Defence Council (PNDC), from 1981 to 1992, after
retiring as an Air-force Pilot.

He won the 1992 Presidential Election in December
and was subsequently sworn into office as
President of the Republic on January 7, 1993,
where he ruled as a democratically elected
president to the year 2000.

He passed on to eternity on November 12, 2020, and
received a befitting state burial on Wednesday,
January 27, 2021.

Ghanaians remember the late former President
Rawlings for his charisma, championing the
principles of discipline, probity and
accountability although some of his critics
believe he was not in favour of a constitutional
regime at that time. His administration was
credited to have led an economic recovery
programme to put the country back on a sound
footing.

Rawlings was criticised for presiding over an
administration characterised by many human right
abuses and atrocities, while freedom of expression
by the media, the judiciary and other members of
the public were suppressed.

Some of his admirers also applauded him for
championing media pluralism in the country and
allowing for the establishment of private radio
and television stations.

After serving two terms in office, President
Rawlings handed over to Mr John Agyekum Kufuor on
January 7, 2001.

President John Agyekum Kufuor’s Tenure

Mr J.A. Kufuor, an economist and a lawyer,
popularly known as the “gentle giant” became
the second President under the Fourth Republic
after emerging victorious in the 2000 presidential
polls.

He was remembered by many for his courageous
decision to take Ghana to the Highly Indebted Poor
Country Initiative (HIPC), which cancelled the
country’s foreign debts, restored the national
economy and put it on the path of growth.

He introduced some innovative programmes under the
five priority areas; the pursuit of good
governance, modernisation of agriculture for rural
development, private sector development, enhanced
social services, and vigorous infrastructural
development.

It was during Kufuor’s Administration that the
private sector was touted as the “engine of
growth” and created the Private Sector
Initiatives for cassava and oil palm plantations,
which harnessed the creativity and entrepreneurial
spirit of Ghanaians.

President Kufuor’s Administration extended
credit to some small-scale businesses and made the
realisation of all-inclusive government a reality
through the appointment of some minority political
party members into his government, creating a
positive image for the nation globally.

He also introduced the Metro Mass Transport
system, the National Health Insurance Scheme, the
development of model senior high schools, the
School Feeding Programme and the Livelihood
Empowerment against Poverty (LEAP) among other
things.

After serving two terms in office, President
Kufuor handed power to Professor Atta Mills, who
won the Presidential Elections in December 2008.

President John Evans Atta-Mills’ Tenure

Popularly known as “Asomdwee Hene” Former
President Atta Mills was sworn into Office on
January 7, 2009, as the Third President of the
Fourth Republic.

Ghanaians liked him for his much-touted humility,
which resonated through his speeches and
relationship with his fellow Ghanaians.

President Atta-Mills showed his Godly character by
defiantly declaring to the Western countries that
Ghana would not legalise homosexuality.

With his vast knowledge in taxation, President
Atta-Mills introduced economic programmes and
policies, which reduced inflation to a single
digit, ensured a stable currency and increased the
country’s economic growth rate to 14 per cent in
2011, following the production of crude oil in
commercial quantities.

After Prof. Atta-Mills’ sudden demise in 2012,
his Vice, John Dramani Mahama, was sworn-in as
President and led the country through a successful
and peaceful election on December 7, 2012, which
he eventually won.

The then opposition political party, the New
Patriotic Party (NPP), led by its Presidential
Candidate, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, disagreed
with the Electoral Commission’s (EC) verdict and
subsequently went to the Supreme Court to
challenge the election results.

The Supreme Court, after eight months of hearing,
upheld the EC’s decision and affirmed the
presidency of Mr Mahama.

President John Mahama’s Administration

President Mahama, who continued the policies and
programmes of his predecessor, steered the country
to achieve some successes, including
infrastructural development such as the
construction of roads, the Kwame Nkrumah
Interchange, nicknamed; “Ghana Dubai” and
other flyovers, community senior high schools,
health facilities and electrification projects.

He embarked on expansion programmes at the Tema
and Takoradi ports and the Kotoka International
Airport Terminal Three, giving a facelift to those
facilities to meet international standards.

However, his administration witnessed prolonged
electricity crisis, otherwise known as
“dumsor”.

He was defeated in the 2016 general election,
which ushered in the Nana Addo Dankwa
Akufo-Addo’s administration on January 7, 2017.

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s
Administration

On January 7, 2017, President Nana Akufo-Addo came
into power on the back of many electoral promises,
which were outlined in the NPP Manifesto,
including the “One District, One Factory, “One
Constituency, One Million Cedis”, “One
Village, One Dam” and the Free Senior High
School.

The Government promised to create jobs for the
numerous unemployed youth, provide stimulus
package for collapsing but viable businesses,
protect the public purse and fight corruption.

At the 72nd Session of the United Nations General
Assembly in New York, USA, 2018, President
Akufo-Addo told the world that Ghana was
determined to realise her potentials and ensure a
prosperous nation.

“We want to build an economy that is not
dependent on charity and hand-outs but we want to
build an economy that looks past primary commodity
and position our country in a global market
place,” he said.

“We’re not disclaiming aid, but we do want to
discard the mind-set of dependency and living on
hand-outs, we want to build a Ghana beyond
Aid.”

President Akufo-Addo named his ministers and other
appointees in record time, but some Ghanaians
castigated his government for appointing 110
ministers, which is the highest number in any of
the Fourth Republican governments.

The government rolled out its Economic Policy and
Budget Statement in March 2017, with bold ambition
to stabilise the local currency, reduce inflation,
undertake debts profiling, ensuring stable
macroeconomic indicators, and create a conducive
business environment.

The Akufo-Addo-led government has, so far,
implemented some social interventions including
the Free Senior High School Policy, which has
benefitted 1.2 million Basic Education Certificate
Examination (BECE) candidates and sunk over three
billion Ghana cedis into payment of school fees
and provision of other basic needs of
beneficiaries.

It has also rolled out the Planting for Food and
Jobs, supporting more than 750,000 farmers with
farm inputs, which enabled the nation to export 19
different food items to some neighbouring
countries, including Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger,
Senegal, Cote d’Ivoire and Northern Nigeria,
whilst Ghana, for the first time, did not import
maize.

The Rearing for Export and Rural Development is
also ongoing to ensure self-sufficiency and make
the nation globally competitive in terms of
exports. In this vein, free cockerels and piglets
have been distributed to farmers across the
country.

The government also backed the Bank of Ghana in
embarking on the banking sector clean-up, leading
to the closure of insolvent and non-performing
banks and financial institutions, with government
sinking over GHc13 billion in paying the
depositors’ funds.

Even though the exercise led to some 3,000 job
losses, it has saved over 4.5 million depositors
from completely losing their savings and
resuscitated the ailing banking sector.

It has successfully taken the nation from the
three-year International Monetary Fund (IMF)
programme and employed more than 350,000 people
into the Public Sector, whilst about 100,000
unemployed university graduates have been employed
under the Nation Builders Corps (NaBCo).

It also re-introduced the teacher and nursing
trainee allowances after being cancelled by the
previous government, implemented the paperless
ports system, e-registration of businesses,
National Property Addressing System and
e-licensing of vehicles, while embarking on the
National Identification System for issuance of the
Ghana Card across the country.

The Finance Minister, Mr Ken Ofori-Atta,
announcing the 2019 Budget Statement last year,
said Government had chalked some great successes
regarding the macroeconomic indicators, with the
growth rate hovering around an average of seven
per cent up from 3.6 in 2016.

The monetary policy rate declined from 26 per cent
to 20 per cent, the year-on-year inflation
declined from 15.4 per cent to 7.6 per cent as of
September 2019, and for the first time in over two
decades, the nation witnessed a surplus trade
balance.

The country’s budget deficit declined from 9.3
to GDP to 6.3 per cent by the end of 2017, while
government has enacted the Fiscal Responsibility
Law and Fiscal Council to cap the budget deficit
at five per cent annually.

Government declared year 2020 as the “Year of
Roads” to improve road infrastructural to bring
relief to millions of Ghanaians who commute on
deplorable roads daily.

Ghanaians have high expectations and would not
take any excuses from the Government. They expect
the government to mobilise resources, both within
and outside, to add value to the country’s
primary commodities so that Ghana would work again
and ensure prosperity for all.

The arrival of 600,000 COVAX/AstraZeneca vaccines
on February 24, 2021 plus an additional 50,000
Oxford-AstraZeneca from India on March 5, to Ghana
has given hope to Ghanaians that the nation would
make headway in eradicating the virus to bring
life to normalcy.

Source - GNA

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